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[SRPG Studio] Bright Blades - A casual retro SRPG (Demo out!)


Samven
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(Thread permitted by eclipse - apologies for my blunder earlier)

Twitter  Website [includes demo link!]

What is Bright Blades?

Bright Blades is an SRPG Studio game I'm currently working on.  As the blurb implies, It's a casual, retro-style game.  My goal was to create something that was cute and accessible, something that newcomers to the SRPG genre would be able to pick up without intimidation.  I think a lot of developers want to focus on creating something really deep and challenging and fair play to them, I think there's a good audience for that, but me?  I just wanted to make something bright and adorable: with a tone somewhere between an old school NES game and a Saturday Morning Cartoon.

A demo is available on my website, covering the first seven chapters (including the prologue).  Click here to head over and start playing - and please let me know your feedback!

 

 What's it about?

"Once upon a time in the land of Aethara, gods and mortals lived in harmony.  But Mankind shattered that peace, raising the Kingdom of Oberon to make war upon the gods.  Alone and broken, the last goddess fled to the city of Titania and blessed her knights, the valkyries, with the power to safeguard creation.  1000 years later, the war still rages on..."

Bright Blades follows the story of Titania's Princess Freya.  For centuries, her people have used their divine might to resist Oberon's invasions.  When the Kingdom suddenly turns the tide, sacking her city with creatures called "Godslayers", Freya is charged by her mother with finding a Bright Blade; a legendary weapon whose power may be Aethara's last hope.

 

What can I expect?

As you've probably guessed, Bright Blades is not a very serious game.  It's not a comedy but it is an intentionally lighthearted story about good, evil, and magic swords.  We're using a "Mostly NES" colour palette for everything; only bending the rules a little here and there, to replicate the look and feel of 8-bit games.

I've been doing the bulk of the game work myself: doing the maps, writing, development, UI, animations, battle backgrounds...  Basically, everything but the character designs and portraits and the soundtrack (which was composed by Johnathan Johnson of Brilliant Shadows and Women of Xal fame).  A lot of our graphic work is still being developed, but I wanted to make sure that our game had a different look from most SRPG Studio projects right out of the gate; so I didn't want to show off the project without at least getting something down for everything.

We want to make something small and manageable, which also extends to how we've designed the game.  Small inventories and party sizes, as well as finite shop stocks, mean you can't just load up a few units with all your best weapons, and we've tried hard to differentiate the 20+ character classes.  Templars can heal and protect their friends on the frontlines, Bards support allies and weaken foes with mystical songs, Cannoneers blast targets to bits from a range, and Witches fly through the air raining magic upon their foes.

There will be at least 25 maps, each with unique mission objectives: from routing armies and seizing castles to freeing prisoners, finding ancient relics, and saving enemy villages from forced conscription.  We want to avoid repetition in chapter goals, ensuring that each level has its own unique feel.  As part of that, most missions also have hidden events dotted about the place: which can power up your units, shed new light on the world of Bright Blades, or even unlock special new weapons and abilities.I'm hoping to release a demo soon to show people what we've been working on but, until then, here's a few pics of what we've got so far.  Hope you enjoy, and by all means tell me what you think so far!

 

What does it look like?

 

Spoiler

 

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Edited by Samven
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10 minutes ago, Samven said:

I just wanted to make something bright and adorable: with a tone somewhere between an old school NES game and a Saturday Morning Cartoon.

10 minutes ago, Samven said:

(makes a game about the eternal conflict of god and man)

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Dontcha know, the Kids These Days love existentialism.  😂

Edit: For real, though, I've always thought there was something inherently silly - in a cute way - about a lot of the classic JRPG tropes, so I thought, "Why not turn up the big bright colours and have a bit of fun with them?"

Edited by Samven
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(Edit: Updated the main thread to include eclipse's permission for its existence - sorry for the earlier blunder.)

14 hours ago, eclipse said:

Are you selling this?

On the fence, honestly.  Right now, my primary concern is just getting as much feedback as I can about maps, animations, and mechanics.  There's still a lot I want to get done before I can say I'm ready to release, so I want to focus on that for now.

I will of course update everyone as soon as I reach a decision though.

 

22 hours ago, robinco said:

This looks really neat. I'm keen to give it a shot when you release a demo!

  

19 hours ago, OdysseyNeptune said:

This game looks very good, and the story is nice. Good job!

Thank you both!

I'm hoping to get a demo ready over the next week or so, so please keep your fingers crossed for little old me's productivity.

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Apologies for the delays on updates here lately, folks.  Been dealing with some of life's... plot twists.  I'm going to say plot twists.  One of the not fun ones.

However, I am fully back on-board with developing, so I look forward to sharing more big updates with you all as they come!

On 6/18/2020 at 2:02 AM, Shireke said:

Nice! Will be waiting for the demo

Finally a revolutionary SRPG where you can pet the dog

Yup!  I can absolutely 100% confirm that there will be an actual mechanic in which you can pet the dog.

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It isn't going to impact the gameplay in any major way but it does let you pet a big cute fluffy dog.  And, really, isn't that the most important thing?

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On 6/29/2020 at 9:48 AM, Zebbmann said:

Looks amazing. Can't wait to see more!

Thank you!

So yeah, bit of a sad delay on the demo front due to some bugs.  Also, personal things that take time getting over.  But I've been hard at work adding content and testing what we've got within an inch of its life!

Here's a few more screenshots to tide you all over!  Way more on the Twitters if you fancy checking the rest out!

 

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Count me interested. 

 

40 minutes ago, Samven said:

So yeah, bit of a sad delay on the demo front due to some bugs.

Sorry to pressure you (I know game development is very intensive), but do you know a timeframe for the release of the demo?  

 

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21 minutes ago, Alistair said:

Count me interested. 

 

Sorry to pressure you (I know game development is very intensive), but do you know a timeframe for the release of the demo?  

 

Hoping for the weekend but most likely it'll be sometime next week.  I've got two weeks' holiday starting next Monday, and I intend to make the most of them!

The demo's going to be about seven chapters long (including the prologue), so I hope that content-wise there'll be enough to make up for the extended wait time!

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54 minutes ago, Samven said:

The demo's going to be about seven chapters long (including the prologue), so I hope that content-wise there'll be enough to make up for the extended wait time!

I'm looking forward to it! And good luck with the rest of the game.

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Planning to release the demo for the weekend.  Apologies for the lack of recent update here - took a few days out for personal reasons - but I've been flooding the Twitter with screenshots for anyone who's been following that.

Here's what I can confirm about the coming demo's features:

  • 7 chapters (including the prologue).
  • Multiple-objective chapters: some maps may require you to simply defeat all foes, some may require you to talk to someone, some may need you to defend villages.
  • 10 characters to play with, each one of a different class.
  • Second Chance system: every unit has a low chance to survive a fatal blow or take an additional turn.
  • Custom graphics, animations, and music.
  • Approximately half an hour of gameplay between them all.
  • More than 10 unique dog petting scenes, with a special bonus if you unlock them all(!).

We don't currently have all the required art assets but right now I'm just eager to get it out and start getting some gameplay feedback.

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Edited by Samven
Streamlining post / Removing some images that just made it drag.
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18 hours ago, Alph said:

Graphics remind me of Zelda II for some reason.

We're using a NES-inspired palette and deliberately going for an 8-bit style, so that could be it?

In any case - good news, everyone!  The demo is finally out!

I've updated the top post with the link buuut if you're just scrolling down here for whatever reason, you can also click here to head over to my website and start playing.

All feedback is appreciated!  I came here to learn how to make something fun, and that's what I wanna do!

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